TOP STORIES

• A World Health Organization program to provide fair access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments for poorer nations plans to buy antiviral pills for $10 per treatment. Merck's experimental pill Molnupiravir is likely to be one of the drugs, although others are in development. The plans, seen by Reuters, aim to buy enough drugs for 120 million patients in the next year.

• Czechia detected 2,521 new cases on Monday, the highest daily tally recorded in the country since April 2021. The government in Prague will not increase restrictions, however, saying instead it will remain focused on vaccinations. 

• Poland's infection rate has jumped by 85 percent in just one week. "I don't have good news … 3,931 new people have been infected," said Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska on national radio. Sixty four people died in the same week. 

• The coronavirus is spreading among children in the UK, and that's, in turn, pushing up adult cases. Some scientists have criticized the slow vaccine program for children. One study published last week indicated 8 percent of English school children were infected.

• The pandemic has more than halved the work available in the UK music industry, according to sector body UK Music. The number of jobs fell by 35 percent to 128,000 in 2020, from 197,000 in 2019. The report said many self-employed workers in the sector had to change jobs because they did not receive government help at the start of 2020.

• Frankfurt Book Fair opens again after an almost fully digital 2020, and director Juergen Boos said the industry was doing well because "young people don't just want to play video games all day." Germany is the EU's largest book market and revenues jumped by 20 percent ($2.5 billion) last year. 

• New Zealand has recorded its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic, with 94 new infections. The recent jump follows the arrival of the Delta strain, which also led Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to quit her "Covid Zero" aim and move to a vaccination program. 

• Want to play in the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam? Get vaccinated. That's the message from Victoria state premier Dan Andrews, who warned: "The virus doesn't care what your tennis ranking is or how many Grand Slams you've won." He said he expects no exemptions from the Australian border rules, despite big name stars, including Novak Djokovic, not yet saying whether they have been vaccinated or plan to be vaccinated.

Cover photo: Protesters in Trieste, Italy offer police flowers. The port workers rejected the COVID-19 'Green Pass' implemented last week./Borut Zivulovic/ Reuters 

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CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded.